Charles f



(No Model.)

0. P. KINOHELOE. HORSE DETACHER.

No. 606,419. Patented June 28,1898" Man ATEENT muc CHARLES F.-KINCHELOE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA.

HO RS E=DETACH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 606,419, dated June 28, 1898 Application filed January 13, 1898. Serial No. 666,567. (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, CHARLES F. KINCHELOE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington,in the District of Columbia,have invented a new and useful Improvement in l-Iorse-Detachers, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention consists of a horse-detacher for detaching horses from vehicles in cases of emergency; and the objects of my invention are, first, to attach the tongue or thills to the vehicle in such manner that they can be readily detached therefrom, and, second, to enable the occupant of the vehicle to quickly and easily detach from the vehicle the tongue or thills, together with the horse or horses attached thereto, in event of said horse or horses becoming unmanageable or other emergency. I attain these obj ectsby the mechanism illustrated in the following drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the front axle of the vehicle, showing my improved detaching device attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a detailed view in perspective of a section of the horizontal rotating release-rod with one of the two slotted eye ends of the tongue or thills in place thereon. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, showing the said eye end of the tongue or thills detached from the said release-rod. I

Throughout the specification similar letters refer to similar parts.

Referring to Fig. 1 0f the drawings, A is the horizontal rotating release-rod, which when in position extends horizontally along and just in front of the front axle of the vehicle and between and through the axle-clips B B and the central support 0, thus taking the place of the usual thill-bolts and supporting the tongue or thills in the usual position, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 1.

The principal features of the release-rod A are as follows: First, two thin oval sections 2' 7:, which sections are similar to each other and so spaced on the release-rodone near each .end--as to receive and support the rear or eye ends 7t of the tongue or thills in the usual positions by means of the slots at m and the slot-expansions 1t 7t, second, the lever 0, fitting 011 the release-rod A by means of an eyehole and attached to said releaserod by a set-screw, to which lever o is attached the operating-cable D, by which the detacher is operated by the occupant of the vehicle;- third, the two similar nuts or threaded end caps s s, which fit on the threaded ends of the release-rod and prevent it from shifting endwise.

The part a is a horizontal flat steel spring attached to the central support 0 in such manner as to press against the flattened under surface 22 of the lever 0, thus preventing the release-rod from rotating without the application of force to the lever by means of the operating-cable D.

The other principal and distinguishing fea ture of my invention is the construction or form of the rear iron eye ends k 70 ofthe tongue or thills, said eye ends having horizontal slots 'm m, which extend forward into said eye ends 70 7t and terminate in peculiarly-shaped slot expansions n n, which take the place of the usual bolt-holes in said eye ends.

The slots m m are just wide enough vertically to allow the thin oval sections t' t of the release-rod to pass edgewise through them and into the slot expansions 'a n, and the slot expansions n n are so shaped that the releaserod on entering them can be rotated only one way and can be rotated in that direction only,

part way around, and also so that on being rotated back for the purpose of releasing or detaching the tongue or thills said releaserod cannot be rotated beyond the position in which it entered said slot expansions, thus securing absolute certainty of detachment when desired.

l V hen the tongue or thills are attached to the vehicle, as shown in Fig. 1, the releaser'odA is fixed in such positionthat the broad surfaces of the sections 2' t' are presented to the slots at m, thus preventing the tongue or thilis from being detached until the releaserod is rotated into such position that the thin sections '5 i can pass edgewise through the slots m m.

The operation and action of the detacher are as follows: Vith the detacher in position, as shown in Fig. 1, the operating-cable D is drawn upward, thus rotating the release-rod A into the proper position for the thin sections t' 2' to pass through the slots m we, thus detaching the tongue or thills, together with ICO the horse or horses attached thereto, from the vehicle.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A detaching mechanism for vehicles,consisting of coupling parts, one on the front axle and one on the shaft or ton gueone part being slotted, combined with a release-rod having a thin part, or section, fitted to the slot, said rod being located in the unslotted part and adapted to receive and,when turned, hold the slotted part; and means for turning said rod, substantially as described.

2. A detaching mechanism for vehicles,consisting-of two sets of coupling parts, one set on the front axle and one on the shafts or tongue-one of which sets is slotted, combined with a rod the ends of which are supported in the unslotted set of coupling parts, and which rod has thin parts, or sections, adapted to enter the said slots and, when turned, to hold the slotted parts, substantially as described.

3. In combination with the front axle of a Vehicle, a rod supported in brackets on said axle and having thin parts, or sections; coupling parts, as 7c, on the tongue or shafts slotted to pass over said thin parts, or sections, and to be held by said sections when turned, substantially as described.

Gl-IARLES F. KINCHELOE. lVitnesses:

WM. L. SPEIDEN, MARCUS L. BYNo. 

